Almost 800,000 "Dreamers," or those who have enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, will be in legal jeopardy if they don't receive protections before the program ends in March.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, told the newspaper that legislators must pass a replacement for DACA this year, while Congress is still working out spending agreements.

"Once the Congress gets beyond that, it will become harder to leverage support for DACA into successful legislation," he said.

"Having DACA is a good thing. We were able to come out of the shadows, register and many folks were able to gain employment with that, but we need a permanent fix for the situation that we Dreamers are in at the moment," said Cesar Espinosa, executive director of FIEL Houston, which represents thousands of DACA enrollees in the Houston area.

"If we trade off the Dreamers for mass deportations, that's something that gravely concerns us. Whatever concessions are made, whether in a tax bill or a stand-alone bill — which we are not hopeful for — it has to be something that our community can gain from and not something that will take more and more away from our communities."

"You have an unfolding crisis in which young American kids are losing jobs and being exposed to deportation, and Republican leadership is saying we can kick the can down the road," Frank Sharry, executive director of immigrant advocacy organization America's Voice, told the Chronicle.

"We're trying to put as much leverage on Republicans as we can, but they are saying early next year. I was hoping we could do it by the end of the year and maybe a miracle will happen, but I don't see it right now," Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, told the Chronicle.

"I hate to put it so cold, but do you shut down the government for 800,000 people at the expense of 320 million Americans? That's really what you're looking at."